NZ Best Country Artist Winner and 2 x Golden Guitar nominee, Jenny Mitchell, is a storyteller from the deep south of New Zealand with impactful songs full of grace and grit. Her last album ‘Tug of War’ included the pivotal release of the 2022 APRA NZ Best Country Song ‘Trouble Finds a Girl’ and was described by Rolling Stone as an album, “worthy of every award it will inevitably collect.”
No stranger to the road, Jenny was recently awarded a scholarship to perform at Nashville’s iconic AmericanaFest and has toured Australia and New Zealand extensively over the last decade - supporting artists including Fanny Lumsden (AU), Tami Neilson (NZ) and Nadia Reid (NZ) along the way. Her most recent touring project, The Bush & the Birds Tour, travelled throughout NZ in support of conservation organisation; Forest & Bird. An ode to her late Grandfather’s love of the land, the tour generated over $2000 in donations for Forest & Bird.
Her latest single ‘Where The Water’s Cold’ is full of sass and country soul and proves Jenny is an artist who effortlessly blurs genre lines and, “knows exactly who she is and feels no need to give way,” (The Southland Times). Released via Civilians, this single marks the beginning of a dynamic musical chapter and takes listeners ‘way down south’ to the illicit moonshine history of her hometown.
“Her songwriting sits well between the darkness and the light that this genre is capable of when at its very best.” — Ambient Light
Jenny grew up in a home and family of music and often tours with her sisters, The Mitchell Twins, and country music loving Dad, Ron Mitchell. After growing up with a musical diet of The Chicks, Hank Williams and Dolly Parton, Jenny penned her first songs at the age of 11 after a trip to Ireland where she connected with her Irish heritage and explored the immigration story of her Irish born Grandparents. A few years down the track, Jenny performed original work on the TV show New Zealand's Got Talent, was placed 3rd and went onto crowdfund and release her first album at the age of 15. In 2017, she was crowned the overall winner of the NZ Gold Guitar Awards which kickstarted the professional chapter of her career, leading to her Aotearoa Music Award Winning album 'Wildfires’ produced by Tasmania’s Matt Fell.
With a sound that No Depression describes as, “poetry that dominates a beautiful melody,” Jenny Mitchell is comfortable with a country twang or softly spoken ballad and is rapidly capturing fans across the globe.
Jenny & band - live in studio:
“Jenny Mitchell is going from
strength to strength.”
— Jesse Mulligan, RNZ
“Poetry that dominates a
beautiful melody. ”
— No Depression, USA
“Jenny Mitchell's work has the graceful grit we all need right now.”
— Fanny Lumsden
“Her songwriting sits well between the darkness and the light that this genre is capable of when at its very best.”
— Ambient Light